


Worry Lines

by NB_Cecil



Series: Spones [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Animated Series
Genre: Amphibious Spock, Canon Merperson Spock, Caring!Spock, Episode: The Ambergris Element, Established Relationship, Established Spones, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Merpeople, Vulcan Mind Melds, Vulcan finger touching, Worried McCoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21686272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NB_Cecil/pseuds/NB_Cecil
Summary: Set during the TAS episodeThe Ambergris Element, Spock reassures a concerned McCoy.
Relationships: Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock
Series: Spones [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563289
Comments: 11
Kudos: 59





	Worry Lines

Sitting on the bottom of the tank, Kirk snoring quietly beside him, Spock watched through the large transparent aluminium panel as McCoy tidied the Sickbay. He noted the doctor’s furrowed brow, the hunch of his shoulders, and the way he fisted his hands in the hem of his medical tunic as he moved around the room. Spock pushed off the floor and swam to the surface. 

“Leonard.” Spock said softly as he neared the surface, his voice picked up by a hydrophone suspended in the water and relaying it to the air outside. “Leonard.” He repeated.

McCoy put an armful of padds down on a table and approached the tank. “Spock, do you need something?” His plastered-on grin did nothing to shift the worry lines creasing his brow.

Spock took a deep breath and pulled himself up on the side of the tank, shaking his head in response to the doctor’s question as he broke the surface. Resting on his forearm on the tank’s edge, he held a hand out to McCoy, webbed fingers approximating the Vulcan finger-touching gesture as best he could.

McCoy pressed his index and middle fingers to Spock’s damp fingertips and grinned that unconvincing grin once more. “Spock, we’ll fix this, I promise.” He voice cracked as he spoke. 

Unwilling to break the physical contact with the doctor, but in urgent need of oxygen, Spock closed his fingers round McCoy’s own, submerged his head, took a few deep, gulping breaths and resurfaced. McCoy’s frown deepened and his knuckles turned white where he gripped Spock’s hand.

Slowly and deliberately, Spock looked down at their joined hands and back up at the human’s face. He raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” McCoy muttered, loosening his grip on the Vulcan’s hand. “I’m a little tense. You and Captain Kirk have put me through a lot of stress today.”

Recognising that McCoy was working up to haranguing him, Spock’s lips twitched in the smallest indication of a smile. He gently pulled his hand free from the doctor’s, raised his index finger to signal to McCoy to wait, then submerged himself again. He closed his eyes, gathered himself mentally, counting his breaths, slow and measured, in and out, preparing. McCoy twisted his hand in the front of his shirt while he watched and waited.

When he was ready, Spock broke the surface once more, reached a dripping hand to McCoy’s face and pressed wet fingers to his temple. He inclined his head in question toward the doctor. McCoy swallowed audibly and nodded. 

_My mind to your mind,_ Spock imagined himself speaking the ritual words, _My thoughts to your thoughts._

Connection. He would have to do this quickly before oxygen deprivation necessitated breaking off. He sifted quickly through the most prominent thoughts in McCoy’s mind. Concern, worry, half-formed solutions to their predicament. . . _WHAT IF YOU’RE STUCK LIKE THIS??_ slammed from the doctor’s mind into Spock’s with a force that almost sent him reeling back into the water. 

_Hush Leonard,_ He soothed, _I have faith in your ability to find an effective treatment._

 _And if I don’t?_ McCoy’s rising panic threatened to overwhelm them both.

_Then we will adapt and learn to live with it._

_Do you think so?_

_I am certain._

Spock held onto the connection for a few painful seconds until the doctor’s panic subsided before he slid back into the water, gulping desperate breaths until the dizziness subsided.

“Spock.” McCoy pressed his hand to the transparent panel. Spock placed his palm against McCoy’s, the cool, hard transparent aluminium separating them. “It’ll be ok.”

“It will.” Spock nodded reassurance.

Spock’s view of McCoy was distorted by the water between them, but he was still able to perceive the human’s frown disappear as his facial muscles relaxed. “If you intend to discover a cure then you really should get some sleep, doctor.”

McCoy rolled his eyes. “Good night, Spock.” He turned to leave.

“Good night, Leonard.”

**Author's Note:**

> Having watched all of TOS in order and half of TAS, I have become a hopeless Spones shipper. This is likely the first of many fics for this pairing.  
> Comments and kudos are love, pals 💕


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